Dying Knight
by DakotaShryke
Summary: First book to the L-Emerald series. Sonic Dead? No one saw this coming. Not even Tails, who saw his murder. Now the young fox must go find the Ring of Life to bring his best friend back. On the way he meets old friends and new friends, as well as old enemies and new enemies. Will Tails be able to find the Ring of Life in time? Or will this unknown enemy get it before him?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this is my very first fan fiction! It was created when I was a lot younger so it is a little cheese at times. But I really love this story and I hope you guys enjoy it as well. There are five characters that I came up with, with my friends, in this story as well. Please leave reviews and constructive criticism is welcome! :)**

* * *

Sonic dashed into Tails' workshop, slowing down he looked around for the yellow fox.

"Tails?" he called out.

"Sonic! You're here!" Tails' head popped out from beneath the X-Tornado. Grabbing a cloth, he climbed out from under the plane and walked over to stand in

front of the blue hedgehog.

"And not too late?" Sonic asked smiling his signature smile.

"Nope, not at all," Tails grinned.

"So where is this thing you wanted to show me?"

"Um, hold on I know it's around here somewhere…" Tails put the cloth down and went behind the X-Tornado. "Come on!" he yelled behind his shoulder.

Sonic hesitated, and then followed the fox when something caught his eye. He tried to make out what the thing was. He stared hard at it. Then realized what it

was.

He followed the path of the weapon with his eyes. It was going straight for Tails. _Click._

"Tails! Look out!"

The fox turned with a puzzled expression. Sonic made a lunge for the fox, pushing him out of the way before the dagger could hit him. Tails got flung across the

room and landed on the ground. Springing up, he saw his best friend hit the floor, blood splattering.

"Sonic!" Tails ran to the hedgehog's side, rolled him onto his back, and saw the little dark stain on his chest. He grabbed his friend's wrist and looked at his

ring. It was black.

"No!" He whirled around trying to see who did this through his blurry eyes. All he saw was a single black feather float to the ground. "_No_!" Tails wailed.

* * *

**Chapter One**

Tails stared at the still figure of Sonic in disbelief. _Sonic dead… why? How? Who would do this? _Tails thought as more tears ran down his face. He took a deep

breath and decided to do something. That _something_ he didn't quite know yet.

Tails stuck Sonic in a sack, with much difficulty, before dragging the hedgehog to his house. He knew that if Amy saw that Sonic was dead she would have a fit,

and if Eggman knew—He decided not to think about that. He finally reached his house. Entering he stuck Sonic on the sofa, and sat down next to him.

Spotting a book on his mantle he grabbed it and flipped through the pages. Soon he found what he was looking for. It was a picture of a golden ring turning

black. His gaze slowly made its way down to the inscription below the picture.

He read it aloud. "_A ring that turns black is death, but a ring that is golden is life. To turn back death for life, you must find the ancient ring of life." _ Tails paused then

continued. _"If one has a blacken ring, they must go forth and find the ring of life and combine the dead ring with the living one. Once one is done, they must put it on _

_to live. Warning! This ring does not bring immortality."_

He looked up from the book and stared at Sonic. "There's hope for you yet. I am going to find that ring!

* * *

Lizzy, a three tailed, yellowish orange fox, sat uncomfortably on a tree limb. She rested her head on the base of the tree, looking up into the now rising sun.

She halfway closed her eyes enjoying the warm breeze that stirred up the branches. _Snap. _Both ears shot up and twisted to hear what just made that noise.

"Hey, Lizzy!" A familiar voice said through the branches, "Wha'cha doing?"

Lizzy relaxed. She sat up and jumped out of the tree. "Not much. Say, where have you been these past couple days?" She asked poking the black and gray

hedgehog in the stomach.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Coal said shoving her hand away, "I was out exploring."

"Oh, really?" Lizzy said suspicion in her voice.

"Yeah, really! Coal said giving Lizzy another shove.

She stumbled back laughing. "Say, Coal, Have you seen Icefire around lately?

Coal just shook her head. "No.

Lizzy snorted. Reaching for her bag she pulled out her L-emerald. Coal looked at Lizzy, her gaze then lowered to the yellow L-emerald. "Don't worry, we'll find

him soon… like I will find my L-emerald soon."

"Yours is in the bag." Lizzy said ignoring Coals concern.

"You know what I mean." She shot back.

"We should go find Icefire." Lizzy said changing the subject.

"Okay." Coal grabbed her L-emerald from the brown shoulder bag before Lizzy took it, and stuck it behind her spines.

* * *

"So you want me to help you save Sonic?" Shadow asked.

"Yes—uh—I would like your help to find this." Tails held up the book with the golden ring that was turning black. Shadow took it and read the inscription.

"A ring that can resurrect?"

"Yeah," Tails shifted uncomfortably.

"What do I get out of this?" Shadow handed back the book.

"A Chaos Emerald?" Tails suggested.

"You would give me a Chaos Emerald to help you resurrect Sonic?" Shadow asked raising one eyebrow.

"That's what I was hoping for," he looked down at the book.

"I'll tell you what; I'll help you resurrect that blue hedgehog if you give me two Chaos Emeralds."

"Two?" Tails asked looking up at the black hedgehog.

"Two or no help."

"Okay, two Chaos Emeralds. So you'll help me?"

The dark hedgehog nodded, "It's a deal."

* * *

Lizzy and Coal trudged through the woods looking for the white hedgehog with red and blue designs.

Coal stumbled over a root. Getting irritated she grabbed the nearest thing that she could find. It was a small branch. She broke the branch in half and threw

both halves as hard as she could. One got stuck in a bush the other hit Lizzy in the side of her head.

"You know you shouldn't throw things at people when you get angry." Lizzy said annoyed.

"Well _sorry_!" Coal retorted still irritated by the root. Lizzy tried to laugh but it only came out a hiccup. There was a moment of silence until Coal burst out, "For

crying out loud, where is that hedgehog?!"

"You guys looking for me?" A happy voice asked.

Both fox and hedgehog whirled around. Coal glared at Icefire, Lizzy just tugged her bangs in frustration.

"Duh, yeah!" Coal shouted.

The silver hedgehog ducked her head and apologized.

"Never mind," Lizzy said, "You're here and now we can go and find our L-Emeralds."

"But, Lizzy," Icefire started, "we already have our L-Emeralds."

"Yes, these ones." Lizzy held out the yellow gem. Icefire still looked confused so she continued. "You know Eggwonna, right?"

"Yeah," Icefire replied not getting where this was going.

"Well, you know that big, fat, 'genius' she found? His name—uh—Eggman."

Icefire nodded.

"Well, she gave him her L-Emerald."

"You mean that she gave _him_ her gem?" Icefire's eyes widened.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because, Eggman is now Eggwonna's L-Emerald."

"Oh, I see! So you mean that the L-Emerald isn't this _gem_ but is _someone_?" Icefire asked.

"Yes exactly!" Lizzy said, "That's why when we give them the L-emeralds, and if they take it, they acknowledge the way we are. Eggman accepted the way

Eggwonna was, so he is now her L-Emerald. Make sense?"

Icefire nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess. So we give them the L-Emerald and if they take it they accept us?"

Lizzy nodded. Icefire beamed. "Cool! Let's go!" With that she started running farther into the woods Coal and Lizzy looked at one another, smiling they ran

after her.

* * *

Tails walked uneasily next to Shadow. Even though Shadow did in fact save Sonic once and he wasn't totally evil, he still gave Tails the creeps. He knew if they

got in a fight, he would lose. He learned that the hard way.

Shadow sighed. "This is stupid. We'll never find that ring unless we know were to look."

Tails shifted realizing that Shadow was right. "Well, we could go and ask people if they know where this—" Before the fox could finish a bright light came from

nowhere. Both shielded their eyes, trying not to look directly at the light, but still trying to see what was happening.

"What the—?" Shadow muttered.

Something or someone fell out of the light landing squarely on top of Tails. "_Oof_! Hey, get off of me you big lug!" Tails said squirming out from underneath the

silver animal.

"Sorry!" The hedgehog apologized.

Tails got out from underneath him and the hedgehog helped Tails up, "Where am I? And who are you?"

Shadow looked quizzically at the hedgehog, "Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."

"I'm Silver… the Hedgehog," Silver said glancing at Shadow, "and what just happened?"

"That's what we would like to know." Shadow growled.

"Well, I was minding my own business when someone sent me through a time portal."

"A time portal?" Tails asked astonished. "So you're saying you're from the future?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Yes and I need to get back!" Silver said panic creeping into his eyes.

"And how are you expecting us—" Tails was cut off by Shadow, who slapped his hand on his mouth. "Hey, what do you think you are doing?" Tails asked

through Shadow's hand.

"Shut up and listen!" Shadow replied uncovered Tails' mouth. Tails straightened up right way and listened, all he could hear was Silver's heavy breathing and…

a rustle in the bushes?

A figure cloaked in black stepped out from behind a tree. Tails gasped, he sucked in his breath so sharp that he coughed.

She took her hood off, revealing a mask that covered the top half of her face. The back of the mask went off into two points; sharp enough to kill a person. A

hook went over her beak and a scarlet eye burned right through them. She was covered head to foot in black with crimson designs.

"Who are you?" Shadow asked the sullen figure.

"I am Sylvia," answered the stranger, "Sylvia the Raven, and you?"

Silver stiffened and Shadow said nothing.

"Ah, cat got your tongue?" She asked with a cheeky smile.

Tails finally got the courage to ask, "You're not from around here are you?"

"No, I come from the same place he did." She replied pointing at Silver.

Tails turned to look at him. "You know her?"

Silver glowered. "Know her? She's pure evil that bird is!"

"Ah, Silver, you still don't trust me? Oh well, there will be others who will!" With a shriek she attacked Silver, by throwing tiny dart like daggers. Silver, caught

on surprise stumbled, but regained his balance and evaded the daggers. Levitating a large bolder, he threw it at her. She, in turn, slashed the bolder in two

with a swipe of her hand, but never touched the bolder itself.

"How'd she do that?" Tails asked dumbfounded.

"It's one of her powers," Silver replied levitating another object to throw at her, "She can slice objects without even touching them, also watch out for her small

little dagger like darts!"

Shadow quickly got into action; he ran towards her then disappeared, reappearing above her only to kick her in the head. Sylvia shrieked in rage and slashed

at Shadow. Thousands of tiny dagger-like-things shot towards him. Tails, realizing that Shadow didn't see the small needles, grabbed a large flat rock and flung

it at him. The rock whizzed by Shadow's face and all the daggers sunk into it.

Shadow nodded his appreciation to Tails, and he nodded back. Sylvia screeched in rage as Silver smacked her with a bunch of sharp rocks, descending into the

air she called down to them, "Next time won't be so easy!" With that she disappeared behind the clouds.

"Okay, that was weird. Shadow, we should be going! We need to hurry up and get the ring before it's too late!"

"Too late?" Silver asked, "What ring?"

"It's called The Ring of Life and it can bring dead people back to life and we are going to go find it so we can resurrect Sonic and… oops!" Tails slapped a hand

over his mouth, and then he looked up at Shadow to see how he would react. Shadow just rolled his eyes.

"Wait!" Silver said, "You mean this 'Sonic' died and you two are going to find The Ring of Life?"

"Just him," Shadow said flipping a thumb in Tails direction, "He dragged me into this."

"But you said you would help if I gave you two Chaos Emeralds!" Tails said trying not to sound whiny.

Shadow glared at the fox. "Shut up, I am still going to help you!"

Silver shook his head in wonder. "Okay, if you guys are going to find this 'ring' count me in! I have no idea where I am, and you guys seem pretty nice and all,

so I guess, if you will let me, I will help you! And after I help you then you help me get back to the future?"

"What?" Shadow asked looking back at the silver hedgehog like he was crazy.

"Sure you can come, and Silver, we will try our very best to get you back to the future, but we have no idea how." Tails said.

Shadow turned and started walking to nowhere in particular.

"Hey, Shadow, wait up!" Tails said running after the hedgehog, Silver right behind him.

* * *

"Shh," Lizzy said holding a finger up to her mouth, "I hear something."

"What is it?" Icefire asked looking scared. Coal stood a little taller, listening, Lizzy watched her and waited for what Coal would say. Finally she said, "I hear

fighting."

"Exactly!"

"Do you think we should check it out?" Icefire asked.

"Maybe, maybe once everything gets quiet we could check it out." Lizzy replied.

Soon the noise got quiet and all they heard was a murmur of voices too far away to hear clearly. As they started forward a dark figure passed over the three

friends and only Icefire looked up to see what it was. Stiffening, she hastily ran after the other two.

All three of them stepped out from behind the protection of the trees and bushes. Shadow, Tails, and Silver ran into them. Shadow tensed up for another fight

if need be.

"Maybe we should have waited in the bushes before coming out to see if they were friendly…" Coal whispered to Lizzy. Lizzy shifted, blushing.

_How could I have been so stupid? _She thought. Icefire, taking no heed on what Coal just said, stepped up to Shadow.

"Hi," She started, "Who are you?"

Shadow looked at the small hedgehog like she was crazy and didn't reply.

Icefire narrowed her eyes into slits; she turned hotly to Silver, "Hi, who are you?" Icefire heard Shadow snort behind her, but pretended not to notice.

"Silver," the hedgehog replied to her.

Icefire smiled at him and said, "My name's Icefire and these are my two very best friends." She gestured to them. Silver nodded his head laughter glowed in his

eyes.

"Hello," Tails said stepping out from behind Shadow, "I'm Tails and _we _need to be going!" He starting to push Shadow, Shadow growled at the fox and Tails

instantly stopped.

"What's the hurry?" Coal asked with a smug look on her face. "What's so important?"

Tails opened his mouth to reply but shut it thinking it the better thing to do.

"Are you looking for something or someone?" Icefire asked remembering the shadow that crossed over their path before they meet them.

"No, we're trying to save someone." Tails said turning around.

"Save someone? Who?" Lizzy asked.

"It's more likely 'how'." Tails replied.

"How then?" Lizzy persisted.

Tails looked at Shadow then at Silver. Sighing he said, "A very, very close friend of mine died and we are looking for The Ring of Life to bring him back."

"The Ring of Life…" Lizzy murmured, "Isn't that on Mystic Ruins?"

Tails exchanged looks between Shadow and Silver.

"How would you know?" He asked.

Lizzy smiled and replied, "I have done a lot of research on that ring. It's said that it reappears every other hundred years, but only in three places, Mystic

Ruins, Central City, and in the Ocean."

"But how?" Tails asked look really confused.

Lizzy thought for a moment before replying. "Let's say that it appeared first in Mystic Ruins, and then once it disappears it reappears in Central City after a

hundred or two hundred years had past. Then it disappears again and after another two hundred years the ring appears in… the Ocean, then once another

hundred years pass it's in Mystic Ruins… then it repeats, going in a circle, I guess."

Tails nodded thinking about what the vixen had just said.

"Makes sense…" He said, "Well, let's go to Mystic Ruins and see if Knuckles knows where it is."

"Knuckles?" Silver asked.

"Knuckles the Echidna, you don't know him." Tails said as they started to walk away from Lizzy and her friends.

"Wait!" Icefire called after them. They turned around and faced her. She looked at them with pleading eyes and said, "Can we come with you? We are _so_

bored and there's nothing for us to do! And whatever you're doing sounds really fun!"

Silver smiled and said, "Sure!"

Shadow glared at him. "I am supposing once we see Knuckles we will let him join us too?" He inquired.

"Erm," Tails started, "No, but we could have there help. I mean we didn't even know where to go until this vixen here told us." He pointed at Lizzy.

"'This vixen here' has a name." Lizzy said glowering at Tails.

"Oh, uh, sorry…" Tails said rubbing his head.

"Name's Lizzy!" She stuck out her hand. Tails took it and they shook hands.

"My name is Tails… That's Silver," He pointed to the silver hedgehog, "And that's Shadow."

"I'm Coal!" Coal said sticking her hand out towards Shadow. Shadow stood there not quite knowing what to do.

"You shake it." Coal said. Still Shadow made no move. "Okay, whatever! Forget that I ever tried to shake your hand!"

"Let's get going, the sooner the better!" Tails said and they started off towards Mystic Ruins.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Doctor Eggman looked through his tracking system, looking for anything to destroy that seemed worthy of destroying… Like the blue hedgehog, Sonic.

"Sir," A short, skinny girl with brown hair and a suit like Eggman's walked up next to him. "The Cloning Machine is done."

"Ah, very good Eggwonna, very good." He turned around to give her a pat on the back, then his radar went crazy going of in a shrill, _Beep! Beeep! Beeeep!_

"Agh! We have intruders!" Eggman turned around to look in the tracking system. Eggwonna tried to peer into it as well, but Eggman pushed her aside.

"Well, well, if it isn't our fuzzy friends, fox boy and his buddies, Shadow…some hedgehog…and some other hedgehog and a…fox… WHO ARE THESE?!" He asked

trying to identify Lizzy, Coal, Icefire, and Silver.

"Sir," Eggwonna said finally being able to look through the tracker, "Those are my arch rivals."

"Oh, are they now?" Eggman started to laugh.

"Sir?"

"Tell me Eggwonna, my girl, which one of these fuzzy creatures is the most powerful?"

Eggwonna thought for a moment before answering, "Well, sir, Lizzy, the fox, doesn't have any powers but she is really good with machines—"

"Ah, like fox boy down there!" Eggman interrupted.

"—Yes, but she can fight like crazy… Coal, the dark hedgehog, I don't really know what power she has but, she also can fight like crazy, and—"

"Ah-ha!" Eggman interrupted again, "Just like Shadow…"

"—Yes, sir, and Icefire she can control, um, ice and fire…also she can levitate things including herself."

"Hm, and the last hedgehog? The silver one?"

"Uh, sir, I don't know that one…"

"Ah, well you still didn't answer my question."

Eggwonna froze. She gulped and waited for Eggman to explode.

"WHICH ONE IS THE MOST POWERFUL?" He exploded. He was still fuming so she decided to wait till he calmed down. Finally he calmed down and she said,

"Icefire is probably the most powerful…"

"Good, prepare to capture her!" He said grinning very widely, "It's time to test out our little cloning machine…"

"Uh, with what shall I capture her, sir?" Eggwonna asked.

"With what? Well, with The Demolisher!" Eggman replied.

"Yes sir!"

* * *

The six were getting closer and closer to Mystic Ruins when Lizzy had the most wonderful idea, she turned to the others and announced. "We would get there

faster if we took the T.T.!"

"The what?" Shadow asked.

"The T.T. or the Turbo Twister." She said again.

"What's the Turbo Twister?" Silver asked.

"My plane."

"Oh, cool! Is it kind of like the X-Tornado?" Tails asked. He remembered, early that day, he was fixing it. Then he also remembered that day Sonic had died…

trying to protect him like he always did.

"I guess," Lizzy said not knowing what Tails was talking about, "Come on, luckily, we are not to far away from her!" She ran off towards her plane, the others

following. Shortly they arrived in a medium sized meadow with a plane right in the middle. It was narrow-built and sleek.

"She's made to go fast, isn't she a beauty?" She asked.

Tails gawked at the plane and walked around it in amazement. "You built this?" He asked.

"Sure did!" Lizzy replied.

"This is amazing! It's built so fine and everything about it is perfect!" Tails said as he looked under the plane then all over it. Lizzy laughed and said, "Glad you

think so!"

Shadow and Coal rolled their eyes. Finally after a long pause Shadow asked, "Shouldn't we be going?"

Tails, who was looking at the engine of the plane, suddenly realized Shadow's point.

"Oh my gosh! You are so right Shadow! Ok, let's go! Um, Lizzy you do the honors."

Lizzy smiled at the fox and nodded, "All right, everybody in!"

Meanwhile, when Tails was checking out the T.T. Icefire started to wander away. She sat down on a rock and watched a butterfly go by, when something

caught her eye. It was a small, white, bunny and it was hopping closer and closer to her. She smiled at it, and then reached out to pet the animal.

The bunny made no move to run away so Icefire picked it up. It felt heavy and metallic; she realized it wasn't a normal bunny but a metal bunny. Before she

could throw the thing, it shot out a metal net from its mouth and it fell on top of Icefire, trapping her. She threw the creature and tried to get out of the metal

mesh.

The more she struggled the more the mesh got tighter and tighter around her, until she couldn't move at all. She tried to call out to anyone but the mesh had

encircled her muzzle, so she couldn't speak. She heard laughter and someone say the name the Demolisher, looking up she saw a tall, overweight man and a

short, skinny girl.

_Eggwonna!_

* * *

"Hey, wait Lizzy, where's Icefire?" Silver asked as he looked around for the small hedgehog. Lizzy, who was already in the plane with Tails, looked down at the

spot where Icefire was, but she was gone. Franticly now she looked all around the meadow as far as the eye could see, but she couldn't see Icefire anywhere.

"Look!" Tails said pointing up at the giant Eggman ship that was going up over their heads. They could make out the Eggcarrier that was going up to the

massive ship. They also could make out the distinct outline of Eggman and a smaller person. Next to them was Icefire.

"Oh, no! Eggman has Icefire!" Lizzy cried out, "Quick everybody get in! We have to save her!"

Shadow, Coal, and Silver climbed into the T.T. and Lizzy started the engine. She turned the plane around and took off.

* * *

Eggman turned around to see the plane, that he thought was X-Tornado, take off towards him.

"That stupid fox is coming after me isn't he?" He said to Eggwonna.

"It certainly looks like it, sir." She replied.

"Arg!" Eggman yelled. He put full speed on the Eggcarrier and they shot faster towards the main ship.

* * *

The T.T. went faster and faster towards Eggman's ship.

"Tails," Lizzy shouted, "You know his ship the best. Where is the entrance?"

"Uh, just follow him as closely as you can." He replied.

"There!" Silver shouted, "There! Right there, is an opening that looks like an entrance!"

Silver was pointing at the far right; it was not where Eggman was going.

"Where?" Just then Lizzy saw it and started closing in.

"There! There!" Silver repeated.

"I see it! I see it!" Lizzy shouted at him, "This is gonna be a rough landing!"

Just as she was done saying it they crashed right into the gap, sliding and banging against the sides.

"The T.T. is too big!" Coal cried out.

"I'm sorry, girl!" Lizzy said as she tried to control the plane. Finally they came to a sliding, crunching, stop. The T.T. was ruined.

"Oh, great, there goes our transportation to Mystic Ruins…" Coal muttered.

"Oh, shut up." Lizzy said glaring at Coal, "At least we're fine. Okay, let's split up… Coal and Shadow you guys will be going together, And Silver, Tails, and I will

go together. Let's go find Icefire!"

Tails, Lizzy and Silver started down the long hallway that the T.T. had crashed down on. Shadow and Coal started down the same way when they saw a door.

"Let's go check in here." Shadow said as he opened the door. They stepped in. They were in another long hallway, like the one they were just in, but narrower.

Surrounding them was a bunch of dead robots, or so they thought. Shadow's eyes jumped from one robot to the next.

Coal was peering down the hallway, trying to see what was at the very far back. She looked behind her feeling that something was watching them.

"What is this place?" She wondered aloud.

"It looks like a room that Eggman throws away his broken toys." Shadow replied.

"Yeah, it does kind of look like it doesn't it…but I have this feeling that these robots aren't…dead." As soon as she said that, all the robots eyes lit up.

"Great!" Coal whispered, "You woke them up!"

She made a face at one of the robots. The robots got up from where they were sitting or standing at and advanced at them.

"You're going to die and I am going to watch you die." A familiar voice from the back of the room said.

"Eggwonna!" Coal growled.

"Yes! It is the _awesome _Eggwonna!" She smiled, "Robots! Kill them!"

The robots surrounded them moving closer and closer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Lizzy walked farther down the hallway with Silver and Tails.

"When do you suppose this thing will end?" Silver asked.

"I have no idea." Lizzy replied.

"Oh."

Finally the hallway opened up into a circular room. All around the room were wires and tubes with some kind of liquid in them.

"This room is weird…" Silver said.

"You can say that again," Tails said looking around him, "I wonder if Icefire is in here…?"

Lizzy nodded, "Yeah, let's look around."

They started around the room, Tails looking at all the wires and tubes of liquid, Silver inching towards the middle where there was a giant glass sphere, and

Lizzy walking around.

Silver pressed his noise on the glass and looked through it. In the middle was a Chaos Emerald next to it was another emerald that looked different from the

other. On the inside of that emerald was a small purple heart.

"Whoa…" Silver breathed. He looked around for a keypad so he could try opening the sphere. He found it and started, at random, hitting the buttons. Tails

looked over from where he was looking at a tube.

"What are you doing, Silver?" He asked walking over to the hedgehog.

"Trying to open this sphere so I can get those emeralds," He replied.

"What emeralds?" Lizzy asked as she walked over.

"Those emeralds!" Silver replied as he hit a big blue button. The sphere opened and Silver smiled at his victory. "I did it!"

"Don't touch that L-Emerald." Lizzy warned him.

"What L-Emerald?" He asked as he levitated the Chaos Emerald.

"The one with the purple heart in the center," She replied.

"Oh, why?" He asked.

Lizzy sighed, "Let's put it this way, you touchy the emerald, the emerald kill you, okay?"

"Wow, why such a violent emerald?"

Lizzy shrugged, "Come on, let's go find Icefire."

"Alright." Silver and Tails said at the same time. Silver stuck the Chaos Emerald behind his spines and followed the two foxes. They made their way to the back

of the room where there were two doors.

"Which one do we take?" Tails asked as he looked back and forth from between them.

"I guess we are going to have to split up again." Lizzy replied.

"We don't have to," Silver said looking behind one of the doors, "I found her."

"You did?" Lizzy asked happily, "Where is she?"

Silver held the door open wider, there in the middle of the room was Icefire; Next to her was a half finished robot of her.

"They're making a clone of her!" Tails whispered in shock.

"No." Lizzy ran into the room, Icefire was in a sphere just like the Emeralds. She ran to the keypad and hit the big blue button. The sphere opened and Icefire

fell out, wires tumbling out beside her. Silver ran up to her and caught her before she could hit the ground. He started tearing off the wires that were still

connected to her.

_'Process of cloning is incomplete, please put the thing desired to clone back into the rightful place. Thank you.' _A robotic voice said.

"Yeah right." Lizzy snarled at the voice.

* * *

"Great," Shadow growled, "We have to fight the stupid robots. Why me?"

"Well, don't just stand there we have to start fighting!" Coal said dodging a missile that a robot had just fired at them.

"Right." Shadow jumped into action, he started to disappear and reappeared, each time he reappeared he punched or kicked one of the robots sending them

crashing down to the floor. Coal smiled.

_That's more like it! _She thought to herself as she sidestepped another missile. She jumped on top of a robot and pulled out a long dagger like sword from her

boot and sliced it right through its head. She kept advancing towards Eggwonna.

Some more missiles came her way; she did a front flip landing right in front of Eggwonna as missiles exploding behind her, like something from an epic movie.

Eggwonna backed away from her. Turning around she started to run out through another door that was at the back of the hallway. Opening it she was now on

a ledge on the outside of the Eggman ship.

"Going somewhere?" Coal asked stepping in front of Eggwonna.

"Um, yes, I have to…to…go to Eggman! He needs my help right now. But, here have this. It's a present from me to you!"

Eggwonna threw a bomb as hard as she could towards Coal. Coal in her surprise dropped her long dagger and caught the bomb stumbling backwards she

slipped and fell off the edge. Dropping the bomb, she grabbed the side of the ledge just in time.

"HELP!" She screamed. Her grip was loosening. She couldn't hold on any longer. Her hand slipped and she started to fall.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

A hand grabbed Coal. She hung there not knowing what just happened. She looked up and saw Shadow holding her hand. He started to heave her up and

when she reached the top she grabbed the side of the ledge with her free hand and pulled herself up. Once she was at the top she sat there panting.

"Thanks," She said smiling weakly.

"No problem…" Shadow replied. They sat there a few minutes more before Coal interrupted the silence.

"Shadow…I…I want you to have this." She reached behind her spines and pulled out an L-Emerald. Shadow looked at it then at her.

"What is this?" He asked looking back at the emerald.

"It's an L-Emerald…" She replied. Shadow nodded and looked off into the distance. Coal sat there not sure what to do.

"Um, it's fine with me if you don't want it…" She said and started to take it away but realized that Shadow's hands where on the emerald. She looked

questioningly at him and started to tug a little harder. But still Shadow didn't loosing his grip.

"Do you want to keep it?" She asked.

Silence.

"Okay…" She tugged really hard but his hands didn't even budge from its grip on the gem. Coal, realizing that he wanted it but didn't want to say it out loud,

took her hands off of it and smiled. Shadow faintly smiled and stuck the gem behind his spines.

"We should be, um, looking for Icefire, right?" He asked standing.

"Yeah." Coal said a smile spreading across her face. He started walking to the door. "You coming?" He asked.

"Of course, let's go kick some robot butt!" Coal said jumping up. She started to follow him through the door.

* * *

"Oh gosh," Icefire said holding her head, "What happened?"

"They were trying to make a clone of you, as you can see." Silver said pointing towards the unfinished genetic copy of her. Shadow and Coal burst through a

door from the far corner of the room.

"Did we miss anything?" Coal asked.

"What…? Why?" She asked as she looked at the metal twin of her, ignoring what Coal had just said.

"Because little one, you are the most powerful of all your friends!" Eggman said stepping out of the shadows.

"You!" Tails snarled, "How could you do such a thing?"

"Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" Eggman laughed, "I'm evil what do you expect, fox boy?"

Tails glared at the doctor then turned to Lizzy, "We need to get going!"

Lizzy nodded and said, "Shadow hold Eggman off, we will be back." She gave Eggman an evil glare. Eggman looked confused but shrugged it off and turned to

Eggwonna.

"Get the robots!"

Eggwonna nodded and she pulled out a square box with a green button on it. She pressed the button and they heard robots clunking down from every which

way. Lizzy turned to Tails.

"Come on!" She said. She grabbed his hand, started to twirl her three tails and flew up, Tails followed.

"Silver, make sure no robots touch Icefire." Coal ordered

"Right." Silver sprung up and watched the robots advance. Shadow and Coal went back to back as the robots closed in. Eggman and Eggwonna laughed as

they watched.

"Sir," Eggwonna started forgetting that Lizzy and Tails had escaped, "shall I get some popcorn?"

"Of course, Eggwonna, bring as much as you can this is going to be good!" Eggman said laughing again. Eggwonna hurried off.

"Where are we going, Lizzy?" Tails asked as he flew after her.

"We are going to 'borrow' Eggman's Eggcarrier!" She said with a mischievous grin.

"What? Why?" Tails asked his face showed puzzlement.

"The T.T. got ruined, right? And we need a ride to Mystic Ruins, right?"

"Yeah,"

They entered a room where they saw the Eggcarrier, they landed and they both got into it. Lizzy turned on the machine and started to work at the controllers.

_'Beep, say you name,' _the contraption said, _'and please try again.' _

"Hm, I guess he has a lock of some sort on it." Lizzy supposed. She then made her voice deeper and said, "Eggman."

_'Beep,' _The Eggcarrier said again, _'Voice not recognized. Intruder! Intruder!'_

The mettle contraption started to shudder and Lizzy and Tails had to hold onto the side of the aircraft.

"Agh!" Lizzy and Tails yelled at the same time.

"Tails help me disable this thing!" Lizzy said as she tried to get underneath the control panel.

"Gladly." He responded. He steadied her whenever the craft would make a sudden, big jolt. The Eggcarrier then started up from the ground, and went around

ramming itself into the walls. Lizzy finally got under the control panel and grabbed a screwdriver from her bag and unscrewed the bolts.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Tails said hanging on when the aircraft made a sudden jolt that tossed them both.

"_Trying_!" Lizzy snapped back as she scooted back under. She tore off the lid to the wires underneath and grabbed tweezers, also from her bag. She studied

the wires to see which one would make the thing stop.

"We don't exactly have all day!" Tails said noticing that she was just laying there.

"Shut up, concentrating here!" Lizzy snapped at him again.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Tails said, and then he got tossed against the side of the aircraft for the hundredth time. Finally Lizzy cut the blue and green striped wire

and the Eggcarrier came to a slow growling stop. Tails and Lizzy both let out a relived sigh.

"Okay, let's go get the others…care to drive?" Lizzy asked. Tails stared at her with eyes the size of saucers.

"Unless you want me to?" She asked with a smug smile. Tails eyes got even bigger and he quickly took control.

"Where are they?" Shadow growled as he took down another robot. Eggman and Eggwonna where now up in a viewing window, seeing that it was too

dangerous to watch below.

"Maybe they're having technical problems." Coal said sarcastically.

"Actually we did." Lizzy's voice said over the chaos. The Eggcarrier zoomed down beside them.

"Get in!" Lizzy said as she jumped out to help Icefire. Coal, Shadow, and Silver scrambled in beside Tails, Lizzy following with Icefire.

"I can stand!" Icefire said pushing away Lizzy's offering hand.

"Okay, just get in." Lizzy said pushing her inside instead. Icefire huffed in reply. The robots started getting closer, there guns aimed right at them.

"Tails, go, go, go!" Lizzy said as she tried to get in. Tails started going up with Lizzy clinging onto the side of the Eggcarrier.

"Someone help her!" Tails said as he saw her slip. Icefire and Coal pulled her over the side and they lay painting as Tails pushed on the gas and the Eggcarrier

roared to life and zoomed out of the Eggship.

Eggman roared in rage as he saw them leave with _his_ Eggcarrier. Eggwonna started to slowly leave but Eggman turned on her irritation glowing in his eyes.

"EGGWONNA!" He shouted. She winced and handed him what looked like a present.

"Happy birthday?" She asked. Eggman, startled, took it. Big mistake, it blew up in his face and he turned scarlet with anger.

"EGGWONNA!"


	6. Chapter 6

A small fire now blazed in the clearing that Tails had picked out. They (now in Mystic Ruins) huddled around the campfire, trying to keep warm in the cool night

air.

"Thanks for making a fire for us, Icefire." Lizzy said as she smiled at her friend.

"No problem." She answered with a shiver; she scooted closer to the warmth of the flames.

"I think we should all get some sleep before we ask Knuckles if he knows where The Ring of Life is." Tails said.

"You're right. We won't be able to find him this time of night anyways." Lizzy said as she looked up at the stars. She pulled out two blankets, from her bag, that

were big enough to cover three people.

"Coal, Icefire, and I will sleep on this side of the fire, and you guys can sleep on the other side." She said as she tossed Shadow one of the blankets. They

agreed and everybody hunkered down to sleep.

Icefire opened her eyes after she knew that everybody was asleep. Slowly, so that she wouldn't wake Lizzy or Coal up, she got out from underneath the

blanket and lit the fire again. She then sat and stared into the fire for a few seconds and thought of what the day had brought. She remembered the

mysterious shadow that had passed over her and her friends before they had first met Shadow, Silver, and Tails. She heard someone rustle and looked up to

see Silver coming towards her.

"May I join you?" He asked. She nodded her head in reply and he sat down next to her. There was a moment of silence before Icefire broke it.

"Can't sleep?" She asked. This time it was Silver who nodded. She turned back to the fire then absent mindedly pulled out her L-Emerald. She started to fiddle

around with it while still watching the flames. Silver watched her toss it back and forth between her hands then turn it around and around.

"Is that an L-Emerald?" He asked fascinated at its beauty.

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" She said looking down at it then back at him.

"It's beautiful…" Silver breathed.

Icefire smiled then handed it to him. "You want to look at it?"

Silver nodded eagerly and took it. Then he said, "It looks almost like the one in Eggman's ship…the one that Lizzy said not to touch…"

Icefire, confused, looked at Lizzy then back at Silver. Then it hit her, and she laughed.

"Oh, that's Eggwonna's L-Emerald!" She said.

"Really? Why does she have one?" Silver asked.

"Well," Icefire said thinking about what Lizzy said about Eggwonna giving Eggman her L-Emerald, "it's now Eggman's."

Silver looked confused, "Oh…" He handed her back her emerald.

"Keep it." She said. Silver looked at her, perplexed.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

Icefire nodded and answered, "I want you to have it."

"Okay." Silver replied, "You sure?"

Icefire sighed and nodded, and then she gave a big yawn.

"We should go to bed." She said starting to move back to Coal and Lizzy.

"Okay, right…" Silver said watching her go. He looked at the L-emerald again, astonished.

_Why?_ He thought. Then he shrugged and smiled_. Maybe it's a good thing to have an L-Emerald!_ He laughed silently to himself then he went back over to Tails and

Shadow.

In the morning they quietly ate several apples that Tails had found. Once everyone was done they covered the fire with dirt and gathered more apples, which

Lizzy stuck in her bag.

"Let's be off!" She said and they all started through the woods with Tails in the lead, for he knew where Knuckles was. A cool breeze rustled the leaves making

an eerie noise, a kind of groan that made Icefire remember that shadow that had passed over her. She turned to Coal, for Lizzy was up beside Tails and Silver

behind them with Shadow.

"Don't you think it's kind of…quiet?" She asked.

Coal looked around at the trees then back at her. "Have you ever considered that this is what Mystic Ruin is like?"

Icefire, startled at how rude Coal had talked to her, shook her head.

"No…but still it's not normal…"

They walked on in silence until Tails shouted back behind him, "There he is!"

He pointed at the ruins of the temple that kept the Master Emerald safe, sort of… Up at the top of the temple was a red animal. The animal, an Echidna, looked

to be snoozing. Tails started climbing up the steps that led to the Master Emerald and the Echidna. The others quickly followed.

"Hey, Knuckles!" Tails shouted as he climbed up the steps. Knuckles, the red Echidna, looked down from where he was resting and replied with only a grunt.

Tails accustomed to this, kept on talking, "Have you seen something unusual in Mystic Ruins lately?"

There was a pause, which allowed the others to catch up with Tails, before Knuckles replied. "Yeah, actually there are a couple of things that have been going

on here, weird or not."

He came up to a sitting position.

"Like what?" Tails urged. Knuckles looked over Tails' shoulder and saw the others.

"Looks like you brought company…where's Sonic?" He asked changing the subject. Tails sighed in frustration before continuing, "Sonic is busy at the moment…

being….dead…" Tails said he disliked to tell the whole truth to Knuckles. The red Echidna raised an eyebrow.

"Dead?" He asked.

Tails nodded.

"What about them?" Knuckles flicked a finger towards Lizzy, Coal, Icefire, and Silver, "What do they have in this? Who are they?"

Tails explained from the beginning, from when Sonic died to escaping from Eggman.

"Does Eggman know about this? Sonic's death?" Knuckles asked.

Tails shook his head.

"Hm…Well turns out from the description of that raven, Sylvia, I think I have seen her here before."

Tails, shocked, looked up expecting the bird to appear out of nowhere and attack them again. "Where? How?"

"She came here about a day ago—"

"About the time she attacked us!" Silver cut in.

Knuckles glared at him and continued, "As I was saying, she came here a day ago and, well attacked me… I was guessing she wanted the Master Emerald, but

she kept on screeching in my ear, 'where is it? Where is it?' I'm like 'lady, don't even think about stealing the Master Emerald!' Then she sent these…shadow

things and they attacked me too. I defended myself from the things and when I threw a punch at them they would explode into a million tiny pieces of…

shadow. But once I hit one, two would come out of that one. They wouldn't end. It was like kill one, two more come, kill another, two more attack, slice one in

half, the halves become two different shadow thingies! Then she called them off and vanished saying something like 'idiot, doesn't know where it is, but I know

Silver probably knows…' then she just left."

"That sounds like her all right." Shadow said with a smirk.

"What I don't get," Tails said, puzzled, "is the shadow things…she didn't attack us with the shadow things when we first met her!"

"That's because it was light out side when she attacked us, I know how to actually kill them without them making themselves become two." Silver said.

"And how do you do that?" Knuckles asked.

"Expose them to the light and they melt, or explode." Silver replied.

"Makes sense."

"So…Knuckles, you know where The Ring of Life is?" Tails asked changing the subject.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," He replied, "Why do you want to know?"

"To bring Sonic back to life…" Tails responded.

"Makes sense."

There was another pause. Lizzy sat down on the steps figuring that this was going to take a while.

"So?" Tails asked.

"So what?" Knuckles replied.

"So do you or don't you know where the ring is?" Tails nearly shouted.

"Tell you what," Knuckles started, "I did see a weird glow over that away." He pointed to a dip in the ground surrounded by mountains. "It might be that ring

you're looking for."

"Thanks Knuckles, a bunch." Tails said smiling with relief.

"Oh, just to warn you, that bird might be there too." Knuckles said.

"How do you figure?" Silver asked.

"She's looking for it; maybe she saw the glow too. That's why she might have come here, thinking I might have it."

"Thanks for the warning us, we'll take that to mind." Silver said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

They reached the valley and looked around, expecting the ring to be right in the middle of the valley on a golden dais. They all knew they were thinking it, only

Coal said it,

"Thought it was going to be in the middle of the valley on a golden dais, did you?" She smirked.

Shadow rolled his eyes, "No."

"Come on guys let's go find the ring!" Tails said. He dashed down the slope into the valley.

"Look for an opening that the ring might be in!" Lizzy shouted after him.

"Dude, don't shout so close to my ear." Coal said pushing her away from herself.

"Sorry," Lizzy said and she ran down after Tails. Coal shrugged and jogged after Lizzy, the other three trailing behind her. Tails looked around the enormous

valley and almost collapsed.

"How are we supposed to find the thing?" He asked.

"Split up and look for a cave or underground tunnel that looks like it could hold the ring." Lizzy answered.

"Okay, good idea, Coal and Shadow, you should search the east side of the valley, Silver and Icefire, you guys go search the north side, and Lizzy and I will go

search the West side! Let's go!" Tails said.

They split up into they're different groups and started to the location to search.

* * *

Lizzy and Tails walked in silence as they searched. Tails knew that they were so close but still he had doubts. Finally he couldn't keep it any more and he

blurted, "What if it doesn't work?"

Lizzy looked at him and said, "What?"

"The Ring of Life…"

Lizzy rolled her eyes at him. She stooped down to look behind some bushes for a secret tunnel of some sort before answering him. "Of course it will work! As

long as you have his ring and you put it together with the other ring and bla, bla, bla, he'll come back."

Tails looked hurt and troubled, "I know, but what if I stick it on him and he doesn't come back to life…? What if I lose the ring once I combine it together with

this one?"

He lifted up Sonic's blackened ring.

"Don't worry," Lizzy said reassuringly, "He'll come back. I know it."

"But he might not! You don't know how it was to watch your best friend push you aside so that he gets killed and you can't do anything about it!" Tails nearly

shouted, tears blurring his vision. Lizzy looked sadly at him then looked off into the undergrowth.

"No, no I don't…" She said sadly, "But I know how you feel…or something like it. But, Tails, have faith."

Lizzy took up his hand in a comforting manner. Tails looked up at her and smiled, wiping his tears away.

"Come one, little warrior, let's go find that ring!" Lizzy said with a smile.

She placed her hand in her pocket and felt her L-emerald there. She glanced at Tails as he wandered towards another bush.

"Hey, Tails." She said walking up to him.

"Yeah?" He turned around his face still showing traces of tears.

"Take this. It's sort of like a good luck charm." She said handing him the yellow L-Emerald.

Tails took the gem, his eyes growing round as he looked at the beautiful gem. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Positive."

* * *

"Wow, you can't see a thing in this shrubbery!" Icefire stated. Silver nodded in agreement. Icefire looked over at him, puzzled, he had been acting weirdly

lately and she wanted to get to the bottom of it, "What's the matter with you?"

"Oh, nothing…" Silver responded, "Maybe a little homesick…"

"Homesick?" Icefire asked.

"Yeah…"

There was a moment of silence for which Icefire looked down a small rabbit hole and Silver looked in nest in a tree.

"Where do you live?" She asked.

"In the future." He replied.

Icefire stopped what she was doing and looked at him, dumbfounded, "The future?" She asked, "Like the far future or near future?"

"Far."

She gawked at him, "Really?"

He nodded.

"Am I still alive?"

"I am not allowed to tell or I shouldn't tell."

"Oh, yeah, it would like mess up the past or something, right?"

He shrugged, "I guess."

"Huh, well let's look for the ring and then get you back home!" She said teasingly, pushing him. He smiled at her.

* * *

"Why do they have to do that?" Shadow grumbled.

"Do what?" Coal asked as she searched the side of the mountain for any grottos or tunnels.

"Pair us up." He replied.

Coal stopped what she was doing to glance at him, "Why?" She asked continuing.

"It's always, you-me, Silver-Icefire, Lizzy-Tails."

"And you have a problem having me as your partner?" She asked now glaring at him.

"No…" Shadow said searching the cliff side with her.

"Uh-huh." Coal stopped looking, to give Shadow a proper glare.

"Maybe I should have just not have come with Tails." He said gazing off into the shrubs, "He's doing fine on his own with you guys."

"But then you wouldn't have met me!" Coal objected, "And I could have died." She remembered her fall at Eggman's ship.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Shadow said.

"You bet—" She didn't finish when Shadow pulled a leafy tree out of the way, revealing a cavern into the side of the mountain.

"Found it." He said as they both saw a radiance coming from the inside.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

They all reached the middle of the valley about the same time. Four of them showed a look of defeat, and only two revealing a look of triumph that they tried to

hide.

"No, luck over on the east side." Tails said his face looked totally crushed.

"Same here, but to the north." Silver replied.

"We did find something." Shadow said mysteriously.

Tails' face brightened up, "Really?"

"Really." Coal confirmed.

"It might be that ring that you are looking for." Shadow said.

Tails' face was filled with joy. "Oh, thank you, Shadow!" Tails said with glee.

"Do you think we should look for it tomorrow because it's getting pretty dark?" Icefire asked.

"NO!" Tails shouted, "I mean, no. I want to get it—" He didn't finish when Sylvia stepped out of the shadows in front of them.

"Thank you, my darlings, for leading me to the ring!" She crowed with amusement, "I will take it and give my leave!" She started heading towards the east side

of the valley.

"No, I will not tolerate it!" Tails shouted, anger climbing in his voice, "I didn't come all this way to just give it up to _you_!"

Sylvia turned around astonishment on her face, "You would talk to me like that?"

Tails glared at her with all his might, "If you want it, fight for it!"

"Yeah!" Silver threw the Chaos Emerald that he had taken from Eggman's ship at Sylvia's head. She glared at the silver hedgehog and scrapped her beak

together, making a horrible chalk board sound.

She turned back to look at Tails and he could see that her eyes glinted pitiless resentment, "Foxy, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. If it's a

fight you want, it's a fight you will get!"

She let out an earsplitting shriek that they all had to cover their ears. All around them dark figures started rising from the shadows. Silver looked up in horror.

"The Shadow Figures!"

"Yes!" Sylvia cackled.

"Are those the things that Knuckles talked about?" Icefire asked trembling.

Silver nodded. The Shadow Figures stepped closer. There were thousands of them. They were just how Knuckles had described them, except they only had a

single red eye that was covered by a box. Connected to the box was a curled wire that made its way to the back of the creature's head.

"It's dark, how are we supposed to fight them?" Coal asked looking at the enemy.

Silver looked at Icefire then smiled, "With her fire!"

Icefire looked at him in disbelief, and then beamed, "Fire is light!"

"Right, let's do this thing!" Lizzy announced as she charged at one of the dark figures. She unsheathed her blade in her advance.

"Icefire light my blade on fire!" She commanded. Icefire did. Lizzy sliced the first Shadow Figure she came to in half. The thing screamed and dissolved into the

ground, and never came up again.

"It works!" She cried in delight, "It actually works!"

Coal pulled out several long knives and daggers and tossed Shadow and Tails one and took one out for herself. Cracking her knuckles she said, "Okay, let's get

this show on the road!"

Icefire lit their weapons on fire and then started attacking the shadows. Silver started levitating balls of fire and throwing it at the enemy. Tails startled at how

sudden his knife had caught on fire almost dropped it. A Shadow Figure came up from behind him and struck out at his back. Tails recoiled and spun around

stabbing the thing with his blade. The shadow screamed and exploded into pieces. The place where the thing had scratched him burned cold fire, which made

him suck in his breath with pain.

Lizzy ran up to him and shouted, "Get the ring before she does!" She pointed at Sylvia who as attacking Coal at the moment. Tails nodded in agreement and

started fighting his way to the east side of the valley, with much difficulty. The whole battle had shifted a lot closer to the east side so that it only took matter

of seconds to reach the cavern.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine **

The spot where the Shadow Figure had scratched Tails started to burn and unbearable cold so badly that he had to stop ever so often. When he reached the

cavern, with much effort, he stopped to rest. The light from the entrance of the cave shown down on him, giving him a warm feeling on the inside, when he

entered the tunnel the slash on his back started to heal.

He started to wonder what kind of power this ring had. He reached the end where the tunnel opened up into the grotto; in the middle was a dais with The Ring

of Life floating inches above its placement. He never noticed the hooded creature come in behind him. He pulled out Sonic's dead ring and started towards The

Ring of Life. Before he reached it the hooded creature stepped into view. Tails stiffened and watched the figure with mistrust,

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Tails, I would have thought by now that you would recognize me." The unmistakable voice replied. Tails stared in disbelief as Sylvia took off her hood revealing

her masked face, "Surely by now you would know me."

"What do you want?" He growled at her.

"You know what I want." She said her smile, by now, gone, "That Ring."

She pointed at The Ring of Life. Tails started edging closer towards it and farther from her.

"Don't move." She growled unsheathing her poisoned-tipped throwing daggers. Tails gulped and stopped, inches away from grabbing it. He held out his knife,

the flames that lit it only moments ago had died away. Sylvia smiled maliciously.

"Why do you want it?" He asked, "You're not dying!"

"Yes, I am not, dying." She answered watching his dagger warily, "But I need it for this!" She ripped off her mask reveling a half torn face. She only had one red

eye. Where the other one should have to been, was now an empty socket. Her beak was nearly gone, but most of it was there, it was a sharp jagged hook,

sharp enough to pierce flesh.

"You see!" She shrieked as she saw Tails look away, dismay written all over his face. "I used to be beautiful! The most beautiful bird in the world! Until Silver

did this to me!

"When we both were sucked back here, back in time, I found out about a ring! A ring that could heal or bring the dead back to life!"

Tails looked back at her, ignoring the hideous face, and said, "But how is all this connected to me?"

She smiled cunningly at him, "When I found out that there where others here like me, not just people, I decided to make one of them go to find The Ring of Life.

I went after Sonic the Hedgehog, looking for who was most dear to him so that he would be forced to find this ring."

She started to edge closer to The Ring of Life, Tails stood in her way blocking her from it. She snarled and continued, "I realized that the one closest to him was

you, Tails."

"You tried to…kill me?" He asked.

She smirked, "You're catching on! I waited for the perfect momment to have both of you alone at the same time, when it came I attempted to kill you. But the

blasted hedgehog saw me! So when I threw the daggers he pushed you out of the way, getting himself killed instead."

Tails looked down at Sonic's ring then back at her anger in his eyes, "You tried to kill me? But killed SONIC?"

He couldn't contain his rage. He started to shake uncontrollably.

"That's right!" Sylvia crowed in delight. She put her mask back on, "I thought I was ruined, but then you, dear foxy, decided to go after the ring, I knew I just

had to follow you and I would get it in no time! And I was right!"

"But why'd you attack us back when Silver just met me and Shadow?" He was fuming now.

Sylvia glowered at the name but continued, "I wanted him dead. He always ruins my plans."

Sylvia smiled as she saw all the anger in Tails, but the one thing she wasn't expecting happened next. Tails whipped around before she could do a thing and

grabbed The Ring of Life. He then combined Sonic's dead ring with it.

"NO!" Sylvia cried out in anguish, "No! My hope! My salvation!"

She collapsed in grief and, for a moment, Tails felt sorry for her. But he soon forgot about her when he tried to shade his eyes from the brilliant light that was

coming from both rings. Soon the light subsided and he took up Sonic's new ring. He couldn't contain the joy that filled him, _Lizzy's right!_ He thought. _Sonic will _

_come back to us!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Shadow Figures shrieked and screamed, Silver, Icefire, and Shadow had to cover their ears at the sound. It was a sad thing to hear though. The Shadow

Figures were filled with such sorrow that in their scream they could hear it. The pain, melancholy, and heartache, Icefire couldn't help but have an ache for the

poor things. But why were they dying? Just like that, the Shadow Figures dissipated into the night, like candles being blown out.

"Sylvia's gone!" Icefire started, "I don't know what's happening! Do you think we should find her?"

Coal just shook her head, "I don't know…"

"We'll just have to wait for Tails to come back." Lizzy replied glancing towards where the fox had left them. "I hope he's alright."

Coal nodded her head, "I guess."

Lizzy kept watching. The Shadow Figures were gone so there wasn't anything left for them to do. It was all up to Tails. When she spotted the small fox coming

towards them, she grinned. He was clutching in his hands a golden ring and he was waving it back and forth vigorously.

Tails reached them finally, joy showing on his face.

"Good news guys!" Tails said he was a bubble of joy now, "Sonic's going to be happy and well again!"

"That's great!" Icefire said.

"Let's head back before Sonic starts decomposing." Shadow said heading back towards the temple.

Tails' eyes widened. "Ooooh. I totally forgot about that part.

* * *

**Epilogue**

A week passed and Tails and the others decided to go up to the mountains to hang out.

"These have been the best days ever!" Icefire said as she held onto Silver's hand, swinging it back and forth.

"You can say that again!" Silver said, "I am so glad I didn't go back to the future, I would have missed you."

Icefire smiled up at him and replied, "I'm glad too."

"Hey, Icefire," Coal said as she started to poke the hedgehog, "Doesn't this place remind you of the time when we fought Sylvia?"

Icefire shuddered and looked around at the small clearing that was surrounded by trees but for one end, which looked out over a lake.

"I'd rather not thing about that event…" She said. Coal laughed and turned to Shadow and started to poke him, he glared at her and she immediately stopped.

"So, Shadow," Coal said, "How do you like it up here with all these goof balls?"

Shadow rolled his eyes then said, "It's alright, but I don't see why he has to be here."

He flipped a thumb in Sonic's direction. Tails glared at Shadow and was about to say something nasty but thought better. Sonic interrupted the awkward

silence, "I only came along to because Tails asked me!"

Tails squirmed uncomfortably. Sonic looked down at his arm where the Ring of Life was. It was now a metal glove that covered his whole hand and went up to

his elbow.

"I still can't quite get use to this…" He said as he started to poke the metal glove, "And the idea that it is the only thing that keeps me alive…"

"I am so glad I am alive!" Lizzy said happily.

"Yeah, me too!" Tails said. "If you had died I don't think I would have known what to do."

"Hey," Sonic started, "I'm the one who died! You guys should be fussing over me more."

"Yeah, but who cares about you?" Lizzy answered with a cheeky look. Sonic glowered at her.

"Oh, yeah, thanks a lot." He smiled just the slightest bit.

"Hey, I do!" Tails said grabbing Sonic and Lizzy's hand. Lizzy caught up Coal's, and Coal grabbed Shadow's. Shadow took Icefire's (hesitantly) and Icefire

snatched up Silver's.

"Together—" Tails started.

"Forever!" The others finished (Except for Shadow who didn't say a thing which caused a punch from Coal.).

* * *

Wow, the last chapter! O: (Pretty lame ending, I know.) Those of you who read this to the very end and had to deal with all the cheese, I applaud you. I will

say that this is not my best writing and I have improved a LOT MORE through the years. Though I can't say I hate this Fan Fic. It's the very first I've done and I

do enjoy it rereading it even with all it's cheese. :) I hope you enjoyed it too. (Also thanks for the reviews :) I really appreciate them )


	11. Chapter 11

**A sneak peek for the up coming sequel: Darkened Time**

* * *

**Prologue**

The dark figure stood on the outside of the Eggship, just above the entrance. The wind blew the cape back, causing it to glisten in the moonlight as the figure

cast one look over her shoulder, to see if anyone was following. Once she was satisfied to see no one, the figure jumped and glided down to the hole. Once

inside, she saw long jagged marks on the sides that proved something had happened in the past. And that something was the whole reason she was here.

The whole reason she wanted revenge. Hatred sparked in her eye as the memories flooded into her mind. They would pay for what they had done./p

"I see you made it." A voice came from the far side.

Turning, the figure saw a fat, egg-shaped man, and a short, stout girl who stood next to him.

"Indeed." She pulled back her hood, revealing a mask that covered the top half of her face, the back going off into two sharp, familiar points. Her one scarlet

eye flashed in the dully lit room as she stared at the man. "I keep my word, Eggman. Especially if it means I can get my revenge."

"I see you still hide behind that mask of yours." Eggman smirked.

"Do not mock me! It is not my choice to have to cover my once beautiful face." She hissed, and then went on in a much calmer tone, "but of course, as I said

before, I will only help you if I can get revenge for what I have lost."

"You will have your revenge soon enough, Sylvia," Eggman said, "but only if you help me—"

"—with world domination and destroying Sonic the Hedgehog once and for all." She finished for him.

A wide grin spread across his face. "Exactly," Then turning to Eggwonna, "Go buy some popcorn! It seems we will need some soon."

"Yes, sir!" She hurried away, excitement blazing in her eyes.


End file.
